/ NFL Offseason 2014 /

so now the Bears got Jared Allen?

same money over 4 yrs as GBP gave peppers over 3 but twice as much guaranteed money, for a player i think a couple years younger. seems pretty reasonable for both teams tbh.

Jared Allen is not the first All Pro defensive lineman to go from the Vikings to the Bears as the great Alan Page finished his career in Chicago. I'd say Allen's career finish in Chicago probably decides if he ends up in the Hall of Fame like Justice Page.

It's an interesting signing, hopefully a productive one for the Bears. That run defense needs some serious work. Even with the injury, I kind of hated to see Henry Melton go. That's kind of the sad thing about many of the players that have left Chicago the past couple years, they were all solid to excellent players for the Bears.

iggles release desean. i'm so confused.

???

i guess chip doesn't actually like him

o shit, i can think of a qb who would

wow

Yet the Eagles' apparent interest in jettisoning Jackson likely has little to do with his performance on the field or a big-money contract that could squeeze the team's salary cap. Rather, sources close to Jackson and within the Eagles' organization say, it's Jackson's off-field behavior that concerns the front office. A bad attitude, an inconsistent work ethic, missed meetings and a lack of chemistry with head coach Chip Kelly are the reasons, sources told NJ.com. And when the Eagles looked more deeply into why Jackson was missing meetings, they found that his friends were becoming a more powerful -- and negative -- influence in his life.

Now the Eagles have even more serious concerns -- Jackson's continued association with reputed Los Angeles street gang members who have been connected to two homicides since 2010.

Ever since New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was arrested and charged with first-degree murder last summer, NFL franchises have been reevaluating how closely they needed to watch their players away from the field. And what Eagles executives see in Jackson, a six-year veteran, is apparently a potential blight on the brand and a bad influence in the locker room.

As a source within the Eagles organization, who requested anonymity, put it: "They are concerned about having him around the younger players."

more details here:
http://www.nj.com/eagles/index.ssf/2014/03/eagles_desean_jackson_off-the-field_troubles.html

first i have heard anything about gang ties. eagles obv had it under tight wraps when it was in their interest and now leaked it. can't blame them.

altho, if they couldn't even trade him, i guess it wasn't a secret in the league

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bj1Qkk1CYAAvdA8.png

wtf iggles

Ever since New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was arrested and charged with first-degree murder last summer, NFL franchises have been reevaluating how closely they needed to watch their players away from the field.

trying to figure out if this makes the patriots the most likely, or least likely, team to pursue DJ.

RB news: MJD confirmed at oakland, blount at sburgh

Oakland is a great spot for a once good player to go die in peace.

the djax news is so depressing. there better be some bodies w/ his prints on them bc if they cut him bc he was friendly w/ some toughs... idk. that's some bullshit imho. apparently 6 teams are already clamoring to pick him up.

I think it is a combination of things probably a big thing being how Jackson acted like a total jagoff in 2011. I'm not so sure in the age of big contracts with THAT much money being handled some clubs will just jettison players that are a PITA even if they are great. The Eagles have already had him wash out one season of production and he might do it again. T

hat's a ton of salary back and maybe they won't have a speedy deep threat, but they might be able to put that cash into something that is a rough equivalent in total football production. Philly already has gone through this kind of drama with TO and McNabb too.
I think there could be some other vets that might come available and they got salary space to make a deal.

It seems to me that this has been a real active free agency year for the NFL. There has been a whole lot of talent changing hands this off season.

I got a pretty low tolerance for signed players that play and then tank. Don't like it, set out. Don't show up for work and be a bozo.

I don't know wtf McKenzie is doing with the Raiders.

http://deadspin.com/two-former-players-have-desean-jacksons-back-1553870080?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

I love derrick ward dissing jaws there

yeah that was fun

I still think about this interview all the time

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000319102/article/marshawn-lynch-is-just-about-that-action-boss

I'm saying Clowney and Sammy Watkins are the guys I would take at #1, I tend to doubt the Houston Texas will give me a call but hey maybe they have their pulse on ILoveNFL.

Clowney follows through, he could be really good like Julius Peppers was when he came out of North Carolina. That's the guy when I look at Clowney's build and results who he reminds me of.

Watkins looks to me as this years top big athletic wide-receiver. I know I would love seeing this guy play on the Colts, as the #1 wide out seems open for business on that club.

I'm curious to see how Chicago's draft plays out, that club is in change of generation on defense. It happens to all clubs that are competitive over time and how well they rebuild their rosters is direct relation to future success. That's the place the Pats have been about the best at for a while.

I think Clowney is clearly the most talented guy, but I don't understand the people who just dismiss his injuries/bad performances. If a guy is constantly nicked up, has to miss games with injuries that his coach doesn't seem to really believe in etc., then you have to take that into account right?

Apparently the second tier QBs are pretty well-regarded, mettenberger, garropolo. Interesting to see if the browns or texans try to wait for them in the 2nd.

Mettenberger is getting a lot of pub.

Hot rumor here in the ATL is Falcons moving up to get Clowney at 1. Falcons are the anti-Patriots when it comes to draft strategy which is weird since their front office is Pats guys.

compelled to create a separate identity i guess. feel like falcons have to build depth at some point, you can win some games with a handful of superstars and a bunch of vet minimums but you get just a couple of injuries and things looks real ugly

i don't know why they keep thinking they're one player away, they're 4 or 5 players away

http://mmqb.si.com/2014/04/02/richard-sherman-desean-jackson/

But what did they do to Riley Cooper, who, if he’s not a racist, at least has “ties” to racist activity?

i find it hard to believe that the eagles cut desean jackson bc they're racists

well, sherman scores some direct hits on several points but the article is barely about djax

xp not sure how you would make that connection
the implication is that "ties to gang activity" are given priority over "ties to racism"

and my experience reading sherman's writing is that 99% of the time it's about sherman even when it's not

do we even really know why the Eagles cut him specifically? because all I've heard is "gang ties", nothing specific. like Sherman is just saying here "he's friends with some rough people, many of us are", but it sounded to me like there was more going on? or is Philly just that fed up with him?

He was cut because he makes too much money.

If dudes got cut for gang ties there would be noone playing in the NFL.

he makes too much money + he doesn't fit chip's culture + chip doesn't value WR's very much anyway = bye jackson or at least that's what i assume. the eagles knew about the gangland connections back when they resigned him 2 years ago so either you believe chip is exceptionally sensitive to gang ties or it's unrelated.

Kelly's coached guys with LA gang ties before. Its not that. Whitlock:

Kelly made his name coaching at Oregon and, like most Pac-12 coaches, routinely recruited kids from Los Angeles, kids with "gang ties." This was not his first rodeo with a young player with unscrupulous friends. Every NFL and college football coach on the planet deals with this issue.

No reason to pay a WR $10 million in that offense where you spread the ball all over the place. Especially with Maclin coming back. Kelly thinks that he is to WR's what Shanahan is to RB's

the issue is not the "real reason" it's the public perception and the way the eagles have chosen to steer it

the eagles haven't done anything besides cut jackson and wish him luck. everything else is conjecture + speculation.

theyre not responsible for some of those sub rosa 'gang ties' brieifings?

the organization could easily make a three sentence statement that would make that line of discussion go away

That hasnt been confirmed. Could just be shitty journalism. Both the Eagles and Jackson himself deny thats why he got cut.

from what i understand the eagles were looking to deal him up until that story ran when probably they assumed that his value has just plummeted. why would they release a story that devalued a player they were shopping?

what's the theory anyway? that they released the information so that they wouldn't get heat from the philly fanbase? the philly fanbase loves jackson and are furious that he was cut and i don't see why anyone in philadelphia would change their mind bc he was "associated" with members of a gang.